Interesting analysis of long-time North Korea watcher who says the Kim family's ideology is far closer to fascism, with its emphasis on racial purity, than to Stalinism (which it more obviously resembles, to include the severe disconnectedness with the outside world).OP-ED: "Kim Jong-Il's Suicide Watch: To understand North Korea, think hard about fascist Japan," by B.R. Myers, New York Times, 12 October 2006, p. A27.
Consider that ideology and the lack of alternative power centers in North Korea (unlike Iran), and Ahmadinejad's clumsy bluster scares less than Kim's spooky silence.